Welcome

About This Site

Why It’s Here

This site is designed for the serious researcher of the NW
Airlines Flight 305 Hijacking, the only
unsolved domestic (USA)
airline hijacking. Although there is very little known about the hijacker, the
pseudonym “D. B. Cooper” or “Dan Cooper” has given rise
to an entire body of speculation, conjecture, and myth. Unfortunately, in the
last 20 years, the mythology surrounding D.B. Cooper has far exceeded the facts
of the case.

It is the stated purpose of this web site to “set the
record straight” and publish the known facts about the case. In many
cases, Sluggo will discuss the popular myths, but they will be identified
clearly as such.

Who Is Sluggo Anyway?

I have been interested in the Flt. 305 hijacking since just
a few years after it occurred (approximately 1974 or 1975). In the early years
after the hijacking, the only sources of information (mostly the print media) were already publishing
half-truths and mangled facts. Finding quality information was very difficult.
At that time, the FBI (the lead agency for the investigation) was not releasing
very much information to the public. Since then (beginning in November of 2007)
the FBIhas
started releasing more and more information and revealing some of the data
gained from their investigation. The only problem is the new data is being
applied to the myths rather than the facts. It is my desire to build a
“one-stop shopping” site to be used by anyone who wants to know
more about the facts in the case. If you wish to contact me you may e-mail me
at Sluggo@N467US.com
.

Additional discussions about this crime can be found at the
“D B Cooper Research Yahoo Discussion
Group” (registration is required), there are also some
large data files and high resolution maps of the jump area in the image and
files sections of that group. Hop over there and take a look!

What You Will Not Find On This Site

You will not find
conspiracy theories on this website. If you want to read about how the FBI
arranged for Cooper to do the skyjacking, and get away with the money as
payment for assassinating John F.
Kennedy, or how Cooper worked for the CIA and the skyjacking was a device to
distract the public’s attention from the Viet
Nam war, well, you’re going to have to go somewhere else.You won’t find that kind of stuff
here.

About the Northwest Flight 305 Hijacking

On
the afternoon of November 24, 1971 a non-descript man calling himself Dan
Cooper approached the counter of Northwest
Orient Airlines in Portland,
Oregon. He used cash to buy a one-way ticket on Flight #305,
bound for Seattle, Washington. Thus began one of the
great unsolved mysteries in US
crime history.

Cooper was a quiet man who appeared to be in his
mid-forties, wearing a business suit with a black tie and white shirt. He
ordered a drink—bourbon and soda—while the flight was waiting to
take off. A short time after 3:00
p.m., he handed the stewardess a note indicating that he had a bomb in his
briefcase and wanted her to sit next to him.

The stunned stewardess did as she was told. Opening a cheap
attaché case, Cooper showed her a glimpse of a mass of wires and red
colored sticks and demanded that she write down what he told her. Soon, she was
walking a note to the captain of the plane that demanded four parachutes and
$200,000.

When the flight landed in Seattle, the hijacker exchanged the
flight’s 36 passengers for the money and parachutes. Cooper kept several
crewmembers, and the plane took off again, ordered to set a course for Mexico
City.

Somewhere between Seattle
and Reno,
sometime around 8:13 p.m., the hijacker did the incredible: he jumped out of
the back of the plane with a parachute and the ransom money. The pilots landed
safely, but Cooper had disappeared into the night and his ultimate fate remains
a mystery to this day.

The FBI learned of the crime in flight and
immediately opened an extensive investigation that lasted many years. Calling
it NORJAK,
for “Northwest hijacking”, they interviewed hundreds of people,
tracked leads across the nation, and scoured the aircraft for evidence. By the
fifth anniversary of the hijacking, they had considered more than 800 suspects
and eliminated all but two dozen from consideration.

One person left on the FBI’s list, Richard
Floyd McCoy is still a favorite suspect among many. They tracked
down and arrested McCoy for a similar airplane hijacking and escape by
parachute, less than five months after Cooper’s flight. But McCoy was
later ruled out because he didn’t match the nearly identical physical
descriptions of Cooper provided by two flight attendants and for other reasons.

Perhaps Cooper didn’t survive his jump from the
plane. After all, the parachute he used couldn’t be steered, his clothing
and footwear were unsuitable for a rough landing, and he had jumped into a
wooded area at night, a dangerous proposition for a seasoned pro, which
evidence suggests Cooper was not. This theory was given an added boost in 1980
when a young boy found three rotting bundles of $20 bills ($5,800 in all) that
matched the ransom money serial numbers.

Where did “D.B.” come from? It was apparently a
myth created by the press. The FBI did question a man with the initials
“D. B.” but he wasn’t the hijacker.

The daring hijack and disappearance remain an intriguing
mystery—for law enforcement and amateur sleuths alike.

Auto Racing

Portions of this website contain articles that are
reprinted (and sometimes edited to fit the standards of this website) under
the Fair Use Doctrine of International Copyright Law as educational material
without benefit of financial gain.